Last Night’s TV: Romanzo Criminale

Is this the best Italian TV show ever made? It may be: its ‘70s tale of aspiring mafiosi is funny, sexy and surprising

Romanzo Criminale

Sky Arts 1

La Stampa called Romanzo Criminale (Crime Novel) the best TV series ever made in Italy — which must have come as a blow to fans of striptease and Colpo Grosso. But La Stampa may be right. Save for an unnecessary opening scene set in present-day Rome carrying the cliché that all power passes, the pilot episode of Stefano Sollima’s 12-part series, based on a blockbuster novel by a Roman judge, did not put a foot wrong. It was confidently paced, character led, funny, sexy and surprising. It was violent, but that’s gangsters for you.